Wallace, who won 55 races in a stellar career that included the 1989 Cup championship, looked back at his career in typical Rusty Wallace fashion in his during his induction ceremony Friday night at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Among his family, he thanked his uncle Gary, who owned a vacuum cleaner store. Wallace told the story of how he allowed a delivery to fall out the back of a truck as he tried to rush in hopes of getting to a race.

“I walked in there (on Monday) and Gary, said, ‘You’re fired,’” Wallace said. “I said, “Thank you.’ And my (racing) career started. It was all because of Gary.”

Wallace also talked about how his career almost ended in a crash at Bristol Motor Speedway. And he had to thank someone for allowing his career to continue.

“I’ve got this guy with his hand around my neck and he’s pushing my neck back and I’m going, ‘What is this?’” Wallace said. “What I didn’t know, I was unconscious and I wasn’t breathing and there was (ESPN reporter) Dr. Jerry Punch holding my neck up.

“Dr. Jerry Punch that day at Bristol saved my life. I was dead, not breathing. And he got me going.”

He thanked his car owners, including one who wasn’t even his owner but helped with his 1989 championship that he won for owner Raymond Beadle.

“We started running out of money at the end of 1989, and Rick Hendrick said, ‘Hey, I’m going to give y’all some money to keep y’all going,’ because Raymond and Rick are big buddies,” Wallace said. “So Rick Hendrick will tell you he has — I don’t know how many — championships and half a one.”

Wallace later revealed that he believes Hendrick gave the team about $400,000 to finish the season.

“Raymond worked so hard — he poured everything he had in the championship in 1989,” Wallace said.

As those financial troubles continued, Wallace began driving full time for Roger Penske, who had first put Wallace in a Cup car in 1980. Although he finished second in his Cup debut, Wallace was soon told that Penske was going to put his stock-car program on hold.

That nearly happened again in 1992, and Wallace recalled a tense meeting with Penske, who talked about selling his team to Wallace and Penske executive Don Miller.

“I took my right hand and I shook it at him and I pointed and I said, ‘I want to be a Penske driver, dammit, I want to be a Penske driver, don’t spin out on me now, ” Wallace said about his convincing Penske to continue the NASCAR operation.

Wallace had first gotten started with Penske thanks to Miller, whom Wallace had convinced to watch him and get Penske to give the young short-track racer from Missouri a shot.

“He said, ‘Roger I’ve got this punk back in St. Louis that is really pretty good and he wants to drive pretty bad,’” Wallace said about getting his first break.

Without that break, and others, Wallace wouldn’t have had the success he had in a career from 1980-2005. In reminiscing about his career, Wallace became introspective about the opportunity he got in NASCAR.

So in the end, Wallace didn’t finish with a story. He finished with a declaration and some advice to the drivers who follow him.

Ninth in all-time victories, Wallace demanded that the current crop of drivers respect the sport, later saying that he doesn’t think all of them do so.

“There’s one thing I learned about this sport — this is a privilege to race in NASCAR,” Wallace said in his speech. “You don’t have to do it. We’re not making you do it. It’s a privilege to race in NASCAR and this has been a blessing for me to be in this sport and do what I’ve done.

“I really, really appreciate it. And I just hope that all the young drivers and current drivers respect NASCAR.”

But maybe the way Wallace started his speech summed it up the best. It wasn’t a story. It was about him watching the stories of fellow inductees Herb Thomas, Cotton Owens, Buck Baker and Leonard Wood.

He choked back tears as emotion nearly overcame him.

“This is pretty emotional,” Wallace said. “I’ve watched all these videos. It just blows me away. … I’m humbled that I made it here. I’m humbled that I’m standing up here.”